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'American Sabor' Exhibit Shows How Latino Sounds Influenced American Music

'American Sabor' Exhibit Shows How Latino Sounds Influenced American Music
Carolina Moreno
By 

Reporter, HuffPost

FILE - In this Oct. 22, 1994, file photo, musicians Celia Cruz, left, from Cuba, and U.S. Tito Puente perform during an all-star concert at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. ?American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music,? a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian, inaugurated in Sacramento, Calif., on May 26, presents the musical contributions of U.S. Latinos from the 1940s to the present, exploring the social history and individual creativity that produced stars like Tito Puente, Ritchie Valens, Celia Cruz, Carlos Santana and Selena. (AP Photo/L.M. Otero, file)
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 1994, file photo, musicians Celia Cruz, left, from Cuba, and U.S. Tito Puente perform during an all-star concert at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. ?American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music,? a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian, inaugurated in Sacramento, Calif., on May 26, presents the musical contributions of U.S. Latinos from the 1940s to the present, exploring the social history and individual creativity that produced stars like Tito Puente, Ritchie Valens, Celia Cruz, Carlos Santana and Selena. (AP Photo/L.M. Otero, file)

Hip hop, jazz, rhythm and blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and punk – they’ve all had dashes of Latino influence sprinkled on them throughout U.S. history.

In the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibition “American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music,” Latino contributions to these different genres are explored from the 1940’s to the present. Opening in Cal State University in Los Angeles last week, the exhibit is part of a larger traveling exhibit traveling around the country – after Los Angeles it will go to Puerto Rico, Miami and end in Detroit on February 9, 2014.

“The exhibit shows how Latino sounds have influenced American culture,” says co-curator and professor at the University of Washington, Michelle Habell-Pallán. “Oftentimes Latinos are seen as not American enough, but our rich history is in the music.”

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